


nothing good ever happens after 2 a.m.

by a_dot_burr_ell



Series: Collection: Lawstein One Shots [2]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, au prompt from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 05:24:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4775300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_dot_burr_ell/pseuds/a_dot_burr_ell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny gets a call from a wrong number and is just going to forget about it until she hears a crush on the other line and the drunk woman who called her is no longer answering. Faced with no other option, Danny decides to track the caller down just to be sure she's okay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nothing good ever happens after 2 a.m.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt by matskabelmoinde on tumblr. "I’m drunk and dialed your number by accident and you were kind of worried so you came over and I’m all over you and you’re so flustered, it’s cute!” AU.
> 
> Presented unedited because it's really late and I need to sleep

Ring! Ring!

Danny groaned into her pillow. She had been in the middle of a nice dream when the phone had pulled her from sleep. Rolling over, Danny took a quick peek at her clock radio. 2:37 a.m. Who in the world would be calling at this late hour?

Ring! Ring!

Ring! Ring!

Danny sighed and reached for her phone, nearly falling out of bed in the process. She righted herself and turned the phone so that she could see the screen. It was a local number but it wasn’t one she recognized. She debated answering; if it was important they’d leave a message, right? 

Danny watched the as the phone stopped ringing and the screen chimed with the notification that she had a missed call. She waited a beat to see if her voicemail would alert her to a new message but there was nothing. Satisfied that there was no message, Danny put the phone back on the nightstand and settled back into bed. She was finally comfortable, ready to close her eyes and drift off to sleep when-

Ding!

“Seriously?” Danny grumbled, grabbing her phone again. The screen read one new voice message so she navigated to the menu. The message was over three minutes long so she hit the play button and put the phone up to her ear. “This had better be good.”

A woman’s unfamiliar voice filtered through the speaker, beginning the message mid-sentence, which momentarily confused Danny. The voice on the other line was low and husky, although slurred, and Danny couldn’t deny that the voice was attractive. “-I’ll need an order of Sze-Chuan Spicy Chicken and an order of house noodles. [hiccup] and don’t skimp on the egg rolls this time! I’m at 1879 Silas Rd. Apartment 412. The code is 51- No! 523! My card number is 4620-. ”

“Oh my god.” Danny lamented, pulling the phone away from her ear so as not to hear the girl’s credit card number. She couldn’t believe that she’d woken up for this. Danny was about to delete the message when the sound of a loud crash came faintly over the speakers.

“Oh shit!” The voice exclaimed, followed by a nasty thud.

“What the-?” Danny muttered, putting the phone back up to her ear, trying to hear what was going on.

There was a quiet moan and then the message cut out, leaving only the automated voice asking if Danny would like to delete the message. She felt a feeling of unease spread over her the longer Danny tried to place what she’d heard. Was it something being dropped, or something breaking? And what was that thud at the end?

Danny replayed the message, keeping the phone to her ear while the woman recited her address and credit card information. This time, she listened intently as something in the background crashed and, yup, there was that sickening thud again. It sounded even worse now that she was paying attention. There had obviously been some kind of accident and Danny couldn’t help but wonder if the woman was okay. 

 

“Okay, I’ll call the number back. Maybe she’ll answer and everything will be fine.” Danny reasoned with herself. She didn’t even want to think about what she’d do if there was no answer.

 

Danny quickly hit redial on the mystery number, her leg bouncing with impatience as the phone continued to ring.

 

“You have reached the voice mailbox of…” The automated voice faded out for a moment as the woman’s voice filled in the blanks.

 

“Carmilla Karnstein.” The woman’s voice said apathetically.

 

“If you would like to leave a message, please wait for the tone.” The computerized voice concluded. “Beep.”

 

Danny hung up without leaving a message and quickly redialed again. “You have reached the voice mailbox-.”

 

“Crap!” Danny cursed, hanging up again.  
Her unease was now blossoming into panic.

What should she do? Ignore it and spend the rest of the night with the gnawing feeling that something’s wrong? Danny immediately dispelled any notion of calling the ambulance or the police. What would she even say? I got a wrong number and I think something’s wrong? They’d never take her seriously. What other options did that leave her?

 

Not willing to think about it any longer, Danny threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. She dressed quickly and left her apartment, heading for her crappy car. If she remembered correctly, Silas Road wasn't too far from her and as she pulled away from the curb, Danny just prayed she was doing the right thing. 

~~~ 

Danny stood outside the nicest apartment building she’d even seen. Seriously, the thing was twenty stories high and Danny was surprised there wasn’t a doorman waiting to greet her. Instead, there was a locked door that could only be opened with a code. She frowned looking at the keypad, unsure of what to do until-.

 

“The message!” Danny remembered, pulling out her phone.

 

“I’ll need an order of-.” Danny slid the marker to fast forward the message. “I’m at 1879 Silas Rd. Apartment 412. The code is 51- No! 523!”

 

“Got it.” Danny whispered, stowing the device and punching the number into the keypad.

 

The door clicked open and Danny rushed inside, heading immediately for an elevator. She pressed the button for the fourth floor and paced around the elevator as it started its ascent. Was she crazy for doing this? Going over to a random girl’s apartment on the off chance that there was trouble seemed pretty crazy. She flashed back to when she’d broken up with Laura last year and the smaller girl’s accusation that Danny was overprotective and treated her like a child. Did this prove that Laura was right?

 

The elevator door opened before she could dwell on it any longer so Danny took a few steps into the hallway looking for apartment 412. She hesitated briefly when it came time to knock but there wasn’t much point in holding back now. She knocked three times, then quickly shoved her hands in the pocket of her jacket. 

The was an alarming thud followed by someone cursing and then then the door swung open. Danny was momentarily taken back by the suddenness of the action so it took her a second to realize that there was a woman standing in the doorway with wavy black hair, a black corset top and- were those leather pants!?

"Wow." Danny said, eyes wide. 

The woman was short, not as short as Laura as far as she could tell, but she was wearing heels and her head still barely came past Danny's shoulders. At seeing that Danny was taller than her eyeline, the woman took a wobbly step back and looked up at the redhead, mouth slightly agape. 

"Well, you're not my Chinese food." She said in the same husky voice that left Danny the message. 

"Um, no." Danny said, unsure of what to say to that. "You called me by accident and I heard that crash on the phone so I just came by to make sure you were okay."

"Huh." She said blankly.

There was no further comment so Danny tried again. "You're Carmilla, right?" She asked, remembering the name from her unlucky attempts at a redial. 

“And what do I call you, stretch?” Carmilla asked, putting one slender arm against the doorframe.

 

“I’m Danny.” She answered, trying to ignore the way Carmilla was looking her up and down.

 

“Well, you came all the way over here so why don’t you come on in?” Carmilla interjected, moving back to allow Danny entrance.

 

“Oh, I don’t know…” Danny started, glancing down the hallway. It was evident that she was okay and she was now embarrassed that she’d rushed down here in a panic. “Anyways, I was just checking to see if you were okay, which you are, so maybe I should just go…”

 

“I don’t think I feel like letting you go quite yet.” Carmilla said, taking a step closer to Danny and gazing up at her with obvious interest...

 

A blush heated Danny’s face as she processed Carmilla’s tone. She couldn’t deny that Carmilla was extremely attractive; with that wavy hair that tumbled around her shoulders, the mischievous smile, and a jawline so sharp it could cut a diamond. Plus, the way she looked in those leather pants and corset top were simply, well, wow. But none of that was the point. The point was that Danny had done what she needed, and now there was no reason that she should be standing in this swanky apartment’s hallway with a drunken girl.

 

She was about to reply, make up some excuse and run back to the elevator before she exploded with embarrassment, but Carmilla reached forward and tugged her inside with a surprising amount of strength. “Hey!”

 

Danny heard the door shut behind her she could quite see anything as there were no lights on in the apartment. Carmilla didn’t release her until Danny had been deposited into the nearest piece of furniture, which in this case happened to be burgundy chaise lounge. The redhead huffed indignantly, ready to stand and leave the apartment, but Carmilla stood before her, blocking her in.

 

“Okay, very funny, but I have to go!” Danny exclaimed, moving to get up.

 

“Where are you going, red?” Carmilla asked, pushing on Danny’s shoulder and keeping her in place as she put both leather-clad legs on either side of Danny, effectively straddling her. “You don’t want to have some fun?”

Danny swallowed nervously, her eyes widening as she watched Carmilla practically climb on top of her and start grinding. Carmilla moved her hands under the hem of Danny’s shirt, slowly raking them up the redhead’s body. Danny gasped at the feeling, her skin tingling where Carmilla was touching, watching in stunned silence as Carmilla lowered herself to Danny’s lips.

 

She momentarily lost herself in the feeling of the kiss, reveling in the heat that washed over her body and the way Carmilla's hands felt on her. She tasted like lipstick and strong bourbon but Danny couldn't help the moan that worked its way out of her throat. But then she felt Carmilla's tongue on her bottom lip and she snapped out of it to realize that there was a very drunk girl straddling her in an unfamiliar apartment and neither one of them had even met before now, let alone spoken about consent or boundaries. 

Danny broke away from the kiss, grabbing Carmilla’s hands and wrenching them away from her. She was breathing heavily, both of them were, but Carmilla was also blinking at Danny in confusion. "Why'd you stop?"

"Look, you are very drunk and we don't even know each other!" Danny said, shaking her head to dispel the feeling of Carmilla's lips on hers. "Now, get off of me." 

Carmilla didn't move right away so Danny physically lifted her off and set her down on the chaise next to her. "Ugh, don't do that, gingersnap. YOu’re making the room spin" Carmilla mumbled, sounding pained. 

"Where’s the light?" Danny asked, getting up from the chair and feeling around the wall for the light switch.

The light turned on and Carmilla groaned from behind her. Danny was about to ask her what was wrong when something else caught her attention. Now that the room was fully illuminated, she saw that the living room they were in was truly a mess. There was a bookshelf that had fallen, throwing its contents all over floor, and the shelf itself was leaning on the other couch in the apartment. A lamp had fallen and there was some glinting beneath the bookcase. Danny crouched down to check it out and saw that it was, yup, that was broken glass.

"Oh my god, what happened to this place?” Danny asked, surveying the damage. 

“My head hurts.” Carmilla mumbled, completely ignoring the question. 

Danny turned and examined the other girl. She was holding her head in her hands and her hair had fallen forward and she was sitting as if she was trying to fold in on herself. Danny thought she looked inexplicably sad and she couldn’t help wanting to cheer her up somehow. Danny stepped up closer, meaning to sit next to her, but then she saw a small trickle of-. Wait. Was that blood?

“Hold on. Are you bleeding?” Danny asked, bending down to try and get a closer look. 

“Maybe...” Carmilla said, feeling the spot with a wince. “I hit it pretty hard when the bookcase fell.”  
“When the-?” Danny stammered, not fully processing what she was saying. “The bookcase fell on you!?”

“I may have needed something from the top shelf.” Carmilla shrugged, trying and failing to come off as nonchalant. 

Danny sighed. “Can I see?”

Carmilla shot her a mildly confused look but nodded her assent nonetheless. “Sure.”

Danny threaded her fingers into Carmilla’s hair, ignoring the fact that her hair was like silk, and let the tips of her fingers probe Carmilla’s scalp. Danny knew immediately that it was bad when she barely ghosted her fingers over the bump and yet Carmilla hissed in pain and flinched violently. 

“That is really bad. You might have a concussion.” Danny said, withdrawing her hand from the other girl’s hair. “We should really take you to the hospital.”

“No, I’m fine.” Carmilla tried to assure her, shaking her head minutely. 

“Really?” Danny challenged her, standing and crossing her arms over her chest. “Because not five minutes ago, you said you’re head hurt and that you felt dizzy.”

“Yeah, but now I’m fine.” She stood, swaying slightly. “See? So you can just walk your fine ass out the same way you came in because Carmilla Karnstein doesn’t need anyone’s-.”

And then she proceeded to throw up all over Danny’s shoes. 

~~~

Carmilla hated mornings. Especially mornings like this one where the sunlight was streaming in through her blinds, her head was throbbing horribly, she could taste bile in her mouth, and could smell the bourbon that was coming out of her pores. Another strike against the morning was that it was early; she could tell by the way the sun was illuminating the room. A quick glance at her clock confirmed it, reading 7:18 a.m., and Carmilla shook her head in disgust.

 

It was a crime to be up this early on a Saturday but she was definitely awake and she definitely felt like shit. Her day would be better served by taking a hot bath and changing into her robe before closing the blinds and settling back into her bed. Maybe if she was lucky, she could sleep clean through to Monday and then she can use work to distract her from the fact that her ex was getting fucking married. Carmilla bit back the thought and instead focused on the feeling of her hair plastered all over her face. She brought a hand up to push it back, wincing as her hand flared with pain.

 

“Ah! What the fuck?” She hissed, examining her hand. It was wrapped in a bandage and Carmilla could feel a cut on the palm of her hand as she flexed her fingers. “What the hell happened last night?”

 

She climbed out of bed, bare feet hitting the floor, and felt the world around her spin as her head started throbbing again. She lifted her uninjured hand and began running it over the back of her head. She reached a lump the size of a baseball and pulled back, cursing. 

"Ah! Sonofa-!" She shouted, grimacing in pain. 

Suddenly, there was the sound of hurried footsteps outside of her room followed by her bedroom door being thrown wide open. Standing in the doorway was a tall, slender, woman with red hair and a worried expression on her face. 

"What is it? What happened?" She asked, slightly out of breath. 

Carmilla stared openly at this intruder in her bedroom. Other being the tallest woman Carmilla had ever seen, she was undoubtedly cute; even in a pair of green jeans, gray sweater that had one sleeve rolled up to the elbow and her hair mussed from what Carmilla could only guess was an unrestful nights sleep. But the question remained. Who the hell was this girl? If they'd met the previous night at the bar, Carmilla would have found her in bed when she'd woken up. Carmilla glanced down at herself. A t-shirt had replaced her black corset top but she was still wearing her leather pants. If they'd had sex, at least one of them would have been without clothes. 

"Who the hell are you?" Carmilla demanded, glaring up at the mystery woman. 

The redhead face shifted from worry to surprise and then back to worry in the span of five seconds. "Carmilla, you don't remember what happened last night?"

"Should I?" Carmilla countered, trying to sound tough but internally she was combing her mind for memories of the previous night. 

She remembered getting home from work, finding the invitation, growing it to the floor and changing into her hottest outfit before heading to the nearest bar. Carmilla remembered drinking, flirting a bit with a few girls, but now of the woman in her memory were the one who was standing in front of her. After that, the night became infinitely hazier. 

"I'm Danny, remember?" The woman said, stepping closer until she was within arm's reach. Carmilla couldn't help noticing that she had bright blue eyes that we're currently studying Carmilla with practiced efficiency. "You accidentally called me when you were trying to order Chinese food and left a message on my phone. You were trying to reach something on your bookshelf at the time and fell, taking the bookshelf and a lamp with you. I ended up coming over to make sure you were okay."

"What? So you come over to strangers houses whenever you think there's a damsel in distress and then decide to spend the night? Hero complex much, Xena?" Carmilla spat, not remembering a word Danny was saying. She was briefly thrown by the look of pain that crossed the other girl's face as she spoke, but Danny quickly recovered. 

"I, uh, actually planned on trying to take you to the hospital when I found out how hard you hit your head but, uh..." Danny said quietly, a faint blush working its way on her face. "Well, anyways, you said you didn't want to go so we compromised by agreeing to let me wake you up every two hours to make sure that you didn't fall into a coma or anything. I'm actually kind of worried that you have such severe memory block. Maybe we should take you to the hospital after all."

"I don't need a hospital!" Carmilla exclaimed, clenching her fists at her side. 

"You pretty much said the same thing last night." Danny nodded, a faint smile working its way onto her face. "Although it was more like 'I'm Carmilla Karnstein and I don't need anyone's-!' But then I honestly don't know what you were going to say because-."

"Because I barfed all over your shoes." Carmilla finished quietly, closing her eyes in humiliation. 

Danny blinked. "Yeah. So you remember?"

The night was finally coming back to her. The cab ride home, trying to get the crystal horse off the bookshelf while she was on the phone, then later, Danny arriving at her door. Carmilla remembered pulling Danny into her apartment, pushing her on the chaise lounge and-.

"Oh god!" Carmilla groaned, absolutely mortified. She walked back to her bed and sat heavily on the edge. "I remember."

"What exactly do you remember?" Danny asked. 

Was she completely oblivious to the personal hell Carmilla was currently reliving? "I remember pulling you inside. Straddling you on the chaise and the kiss.... Oh my god, we didn't-?"

Danny heard the implication and rushed to assure her. "Oh god! Don't worry, happened. You got sick right after that and then we agreed that I should at least stay so that I could check on you every two hours."

Carmilla nodded, trying to process. When nothing more of the night came back to her, Carmilla sighed. "I think I need some coffee."

~~~

Forty minutes later, Carmilla had showered and changed into black jeans and a t-shirt, her wet hair thrown up into a loose bin to avoid putting pressure on the bump on her head. Danny had offered to make the coffee so Carmilla could clean herself up and she had reluctantly agreed. 

Now, she walked into her kitchen and allowed Danny to hand her one of her own mugs full of coffee and join her at her own kitchen table. More of the night had come back to her in bits and pieces while she has showered but there was still a couple of questions she couldn't answer. 

"There are a few things I can't remember." Carmilla started, holding. The coffee between her hands and letting the heat ground her. 

"Okay, shoot." Danny said distractedly, mixing creamer into her cup. 

"I don't remember cutting my hand." She lifted up the injured hand as evidence. 

"Oh, that." Danny shifted in her seat. "I went to clean up and while I was gone you cut your hand trying to pick up some broken glass."

A chill ran up Carmilla's spine. Could she be referring to what Carmilla thought she was? "Glass?"

Danny frowned in concentration. "Yeah, I don't know what it used to be but you were pretty determined to get all the pieces." She shrugged. "After that, you told me where I could find your bandages and you decided that you wanted to try and sleep."

"So, you cleaned my living room?" Carmilla asked, raising one eyebrow as she lifted the mug of coffee to her lips. Damn, Danny made an exceptional cup of coffee. "I had noticed on the way out here that the living room wasn't a big a mess as I expected."

"I just cleaned up the glass and broken lamp, and stood the bookshelf back up. I put the books back in there but you might want to look into getting a new one, there's a crack in the side." Danny explained. 

"Well, thank you..." Carmilla trailed off. "From what I can remember, you really helped me out last night."

"Honestly, I probably overstepped by coming over. I've, uh, been told before about that hero complex thing." Danny admitted, hanging her head. "So, sorry." 

Carmilla felt a pang of guilt. It was obvious that someone had probably said some not so kind words on the matter and Carmilla probably hasn't helped by spewing out the first thing that had come to her mind when she was panicking. 

"Look, I'm sorry I said that." Carmilla offered. "For what it's worth, it's been a long time since someone cared enough to check in on me. It's nice."

It was the truth. Ell, her mother, William; she didn't really have anyone in her life who still cared or that hadn't walked out on her. But Danny was here, at a stranger's house, because she'd worried about hearing Carmilla get hurt over the phone and had rushed to her defense.

Danny gave her a small smile and Carmilla felt relieved. The feeling went away almost immediately when she realized that, soon, Danny would walk out of her house and probably out of her life. There was no reason for this girl to hang around now that Carmilla had recovered. She was interrupted from her thoughts when Danny asked her a question.

"So I never did get what the story was last night." Danny started. Carmilla looked at her blankly so she continued. "About what made you want to climb your bookshelf like some wild jungle cat. There has to be a reason."

Carmilla chuckled at the comparison. "Yeah, there was a reason."

"So, do I get an answer? Since I saved your life, an all?" She tacked on at the end. 

Carmilla couldn't help rolling her eyes. "I suppose."

Carmilla rose from the table and went to the kitchen counter where she kept her mail. Finding what she was looking for, she dropped the letter in front of Danny. The redhead looked at her restively, asking for silent permission to open it. Carmilla nodded and sat back in her chair as Danny read it over. 

"A wedding invitation?" Danny asked, sounding confused. 

"That would be the wedding invitation of my ex-girlfriend you're holding." Carmilla explained, watching with mild amusement as Danny stared at her in horror. 

"Yikes." Danny whispered, dropping the card to the table. 

"Yes, our families are old friends." Carmilla nodded. 

"Well, that explains the drinking." Danny said, Scottish the invitation to her far end of the table, away from the two of them. "And the bookshelf."

"I'm getting to that, gingersnap." Carmilla said, taking another sip of her coffee. Danny chuckled lightly at the nickname but otherwise didn't comment. "She, uh, Elle... She used to like crystal animals. She collected them. Before we'd broken up I'd bought her this crystal horse for her birthday but we didn't last that long."

Carmilla paused, busying herself with another drink. "I kept the gift all this time, just sitting on top of my bookshelf. I think part of me was hoping that we'd get back together and that I'd eventually get to give it to her and now..." She looked briefly towards the window in her kitchen. "Well, now I guess I decided that there was no time like the present to finally let go." 

There was silence for a moment before Danny spoke. "I'm so sorry."

Carmilla shook her head. "Don't be. It was time." She shrugged. " I just wish I wasn't as drunk, I may have had enough presence of mind to use a stool to reach the top instead of trying to climb up there."

"True." Danny laughed. "Well, it all makes perfect sense now that I've gotten the whole story. But I should probably get going..."

Carmilla felt her stomach drop slightly. "Oh, right. Of course." She stood carefully from her chair, taking her cup to the sink. "I'm sure you have better things to do."

This was it. Danny would leave and it would go back to Carmilla spending her weekends alone or trying to hook up with girls at the bar. Danny didn't have any reason to stay and had no reason to ever keep in touch. 

"I, actually, just really want to shower and change clothes." Danny admitted, a slight frown on her face. "Plus, I need to throw my shoes in the washer and maybe take a little nap. No offense, but you're couch isn't a very comfortable bed."

"No, I get it." Carmilla said, forcing a smile. "It was nice meeting you, have a nice life!"

Her statement probably came out a little harsher than she'd intended but she didn't care at the moment. All she wanted to do right now was crawl back into bed and not think anymore. 

"You know, Carmilla, I'd really like to come back after a few hours." Danny said slowly, as if gauging for a reaction. 

"I don't think I'm going to slip into any coma, red. I'll be just fine without you looking out for me." Carmilla said, not wanting Danny to do her any more favors. 

"I know." Danny shrugged. "I was just thinking it might be nice if I could come back, maybe with a movie or something? I'd like to actually get to know you without the threat of serious injury clouding either of our judgements and if I wait any longer, I'll be risking serious injury to stay up longer and then try and drive home."

"You want to come back?" Carmilla asked. 

"Only if it's okay." Danny reiterated, somehow managing to look vulnerable. Impressive for someone so tall. 

Carmilla smirked. "Okay, then. Around 5?"

Danny gave her a warm smile as she stood from the table and headed towards the door. She picked up a plastic bag that Carmilla could only assume held her soiled shoes, holding it slightly away from herself. "Awesome. It's a date."

"Great. I'll make sure and order us some dinner." Carmilla offered, opening the front door. "I never did get my Chinese food last night." 

Carmilla could hear Danny laughing all the down the hall to the elevator.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I hoped you liked it because it took way longer to write than anticipated and As I'm writing this note I have less than 5 hours to sleep before work. Yay!


End file.
